| watching night moves possibly for the first time since my american new wave cinema class in college. stars gene hackman and directed by arthur penn who made bonnie and clyde which is often cited as the movie which broke through the deadwood of the hollywood studio system ushering in the era of new era of filmmaking before the blockbuster era washed it away. this movie is more conventional than b&c stylistically, and is saddled with a regrettable 70s score, but still holds up story-wise over time. i also happen to watch robert altman's the long goodbye which is a noirish detective story from the 50s. elliot gould is phillip marlowe. this movie though thoroughly set in the swinging 70s has gould very much playing a 50s style noir detective whereas hackman acts as a version of himself as he does in most roles but always well. i have a hard time taking gould seriously as hardboiled but sterling hayden, a veteran of 50s noir films, is great as a drunken washed up hemingwayesque figure. and both movies have some great location shots in southern california and the florida keys, two very noirish backdrops. neither movie was commercially successful. both now streaming on netflix.
the last third of night moves really distinguishes it. while its been coyly self aware of noirish behaviors throughout, it violently nods at bogart's key largo in its final act though with a more ambiguous resolution for the protagonist. but penn also finds time to comment on an era of voyeuristic gratuitous movie violence which he somewhat initiated perhaps with some regrets in bonnie and clyde. here we see a seen very similar to ones in b&c but stripped of its glamour. very cool, indeed.
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both now streaming on netflix.
- dave 9-07-2011 3:42 am
the last third of night moves really distinguishes it. while its been coyly self aware of noirish behaviors throughout, it violently nods at bogart's key largo in its final act though with a more ambiguous resolution for the protagonist. but penn also finds time to comment on an era of voyeuristic gratuitous movie violence which he somewhat initiated perhaps with some regrets in bonnie and clyde. here we see a seen very similar to ones in b&c but stripped of its glamour. very cool, indeed.
- dave 9-07-2011 5:25 am [add a comment]